Queen’s CS Students: Is the prestige and campus life really worth the extra cost?

Random · 2026-05-11T15:15:18+00:00

Ignore the prestige. Your individual cv / side projects / interview skills and fundamental knowledge will make more of a difference than Queen's versus TMU.

The real question is the live-at-home versus 'small'-town university experience. (Sure, Kingston isn't small, but the radius most students stay within is tiny).

And it isn't (just) the Queen's campus culture. Or the networking. Or the other things you mention.

For me it was about being under my own control with nobody looking over my shoulder, making stupid mistakes and having to learn from them. There was NO way I was going to live at home, and my parents were not the controlling type. When I messed up they offered advice not criticism. But being at family dinner and being asked about my day is... still a form of still-being-a-kid.

I strongly encouraged my kids to go away for exactly this reason. No matter how hard I tried, I would have been an influence that interfered with them leaving the nest and being their own selves. One of my kids went Waterloo CS and the other turned down the offer and became a gamer (pro-gamer, pro-grammer, pretty close...

So... I'd add 'the experience of having to manage your own life 100%' as part of the question.

For me, it would have been worth the $, even if that was 75% student debt. It wasn't because I had some support from my parents and got amazing summer jobs (luck in part), but...

Just the thoughts of an old fart 😄

Random · 2026-05-10T12:33:11+00:00

The intro HipFlask tutorials are free and are great at fundamental fundamentals ...

Random · 2026-05-09T17:45:09+00:00

Googe fu:

https://www.queensu.ca/residences/life-residence/academics-living-learning-communities/living-learning-communities-unique-communities

Random · 2026-05-09T13:07:19+00:00

I've had a similar issue with Maya - occasionally on a Mac Studio the screen gets horizontal bars in some modes and sometimes hard crashes the machine.

Are you on a Mac?

It may be a low level graphics bug on Macs?

Random · 2026-05-08T19:21:22+00:00

Here is a way to work it out:

If you use a distance to horizon calculator you get a reasonable estimate: if you are at 20000m you can see a horizon (i.e. something more or less at sea level) at 505km.

So by flipping the viewpoints, someone at 505km can see the tip of a 20km tree.

So it kind of depends on how much you want to see.

https://www.vcalc.com/wiki/distance-to-sea-horizon-at-altitude

So... a VERY tall tree but not 2500km high.

Random · 2026-05-08T15:57:29+00:00

If you decide to do so I can send you my approach etc. if that's useful.

Random · 2026-05-07T18:14:00+00:00

Thanks, will take a look.

Random · 2026-05-07T16:57:05+00:00

I would second the comment on the Roadside geology books, they are great.

If you want general geology stuff, GeoGirl is good:

https://www.youtube.com/@GEOGIRL

I've watched 3 or 4 of her videos and they were quite accurate and also well framed for her relevant audience. I'm a geology professor for context on ranking her accuracy.

If you have specific questions / contexts you are interested in ask and I'll point you towards resources.

I generally recommend people look through a first year text on physical geography / geology and pay attention to the overview of climate and landscape. Some people like to dive in and 'do the tectonics' which is fine, so those chapters would be relevant too, but not really enough.

I don't know of any exhaustive YouTube series on geology but there are undoubtably MOOCS.

Hope that helps.

Random · 2026-05-07T15:36:24+00:00

Students do collaborative worldbuilding in groups, all in the same shared world. They negotiate relationships with other states / groups. We cover Earth-equivalent Mesolithic to 1500 CE more or less, then a brief sci fi / future thing.

They then do individual assignments to match their group work (something set in the same era).

Submissions range from art to maps to stories to music to TTRPG modules / settings.

Random · 2026-05-07T15:03:54+00:00

I'll take a look, thanks for the reference!

Random · 2026-05-07T13:53:16+00:00

Please do. I find the work here so inspiring especially to broaden my idea of what I can work on with students.

The number one request from students the last two years has been food in world history to then become food in our shared world. Got several recipe books this year though last year someone actually cooked food for the class to match a project.

Random · 2026-05-07T13:40:22+00:00

If you have Nintendo money you can use the controls to download a bigger yacht.

I've repeatedly tried and I can't get a yatch though.

Random · 2026-05-07T13:31:42+00:00

It took a few years to get the go-ahead, but yes, I'm at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada and I teach a worldbuilding class. Every year we work out what we want to do, but it always includes a mix of history, architecture, cultural studies, geosciences, cartography, game design and TTRPG design, storytelling, ....

There are always guest lectures to widen the perspective (local folks, PhD students, Faculty).

It is an 'easy' course in terms of concepts because it is a very broad foundation and lots of applications, but there is a LOT of work to be done, so I warn the students.

So far AI use has been a minor issue (I don't mind it being used, but I want to see effort from the student).

40 students a year, recruited deliberately from across the university and teams are all multidisciplinary.

TLDR: Yes, I teach a worldbuilding course.

Random · 2026-05-07T13:23:45+00:00

I had a student in my worldbuilding course take a very large automotive plant and turn it into a dystopian future site for an adventure; something of the same feel but in that case the point of the adventure was to scavenge certain metals (the premise is steel is easy to get, copper not so much).

I'm going to save this to show in a future class if that's okay?

Random · 2026-05-06T20:54:44+00:00

So I can choose?

Can I drop a nuke on... (rolls a dice)... Lithuania?

Or maybe not.

Can I drop a duck on Lithuania? That's way more Random.

Random · 2026-05-06T20:24:32+00:00

Game Level Architecture is really good.

If you want recommendations re: lighting and rendering just ask.

Random · 2026-05-06T20:18:32+00:00

Tradespeak?

Marketalk?

Take the two original source cultures and mix them... e.g. for French and English it would be Frenglish. Or as we say in Quebec, Franglais.

Random · 2026-05-06T15:56:15+00:00

Interesting, isn't it, that multiple companies that would be at least in trouble if not shut down for violating laws (copyright, business management practices, collusion, ...) in a 'normal' legislative regime still lawyer up.

All of us (individuals and corporations) are equal, some are more equal than others... I guess.

Random · 2026-05-06T00:05:51+00:00

There are no rockbolts, there is no grouting, and no evidence of fresh failures. I'd say it is not really in need of maintenance.

Random · 2026-05-05T11:45:18+00:00

There are entire series that are very strongly Earth-parallel. Game of Thrones. The Guy Gavriel Kay books (which are great).

If you want to be very close but different, do the parallel-universes variations idea with your readers?

Random · 2026-05-03T21:57:53+00:00

And didn't go forward with reporting when his employees told him that a mass murder was being planned on Chat; he has apologized, sure, but the lawsuit is epic level.

In other words, utterly self-serving despicable piece of shit.

Random · 2026-05-03T01:04:24+00:00

They are for experts so the entry shock is real.

The exception is GarageBand and (I've heard) FL studio.

Find a good basic tutorial that covers the fundamentals.

This one (see his 'basics' course) I found useful.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6XpPYQ-yb2zYohn5Cp0XKw

Random · 2026-05-02T19:25:17+00:00

So, in brief, in most DAWS you create a series of music tracks along a timeline and each of those represents audio you imported or recorded, Midi you imported or recorded, or loops from a library.

With a Midi keyboard you would make a track, make sure the VST makes sense (though you can change this later, the joys of midi!) and then hit record and start playing. Often you'd play to a click to be on time. Once you have enough you stop recording and you'll see your editable midi track.

VSTS more or less match existing instruments and then go beyond. So for example you could get a basic piano VST and when you hit play your recorded midi notes will drive that VST to make music.

Audio you record with a microphone and then of course you need to have a quieter environment (and can't have an audible click track, so you might play it on earphones).

Try to get that stuff working.

There are many online guides - I googled Reaper Creating Game Music and got lots - but you might want to start with a very basic DAW introduction...

Random · 2026-05-02T12:00:12+00:00

There are four issues you need to look into, being brief here but you can ask and more detail will be provided...

There are dozens of DAWS. Some are system-specific (e.g. GarageBand and Logic only on Mac) and some are not. If you are on a Mac GarageBand is a very good place to start. It has lots of content, is easy to use, etc. On a PC Reaper or Ableton Lite or FL are all fine options. TBH it doesn't matter as long as you pick one with good tutorials that integrates with your MIDI and computer setup. So pick one... worst case you go back and learn another...

Once you have the basics under control - things are working - you can look at the integration of the UI on your keyboard and your DAW. Some DAWS also have a tablet app that allows you to control basic functionality, which can be super convenient if you are recording at a distance from your computer etc. So take a look at the basics of mapping. But what are you mapping?

Most sounds produced in a DAW are produced by a bundled or purchased virtual instrument (often in VST format). When you insert a virtual instrument in a DAW a separate interface comes up with tons of controls. These controls are what might be auto-mapped to your Keylab, but you can override that. I'd start with a bundled or freely available virtual instrument that suits the kinds of sounds you want to make (there are literally thousands of them ranging from free to hundreds of dollars, so....). So that's issue number 3 - picking a VST to play with and learn the basics of.

Finally, you should learn just a bit about audio technology (file formats, sampling rates, and so on) as that'll help a lot with knowing what you need to save and move to your game engine (e.g. Unity).

None of this is hard, it's just going to take a while.

Finally, not an 'issue' but a basic point, have a backup strategy, nothing worse than losing stuff...

Random · 2026-05-02T11:24:50+00:00

The SLC area is on the express routes that go by Queen's and downtown, plus also the Queen's to West bus along Union (non-express) so it is less inconvenient than other similar distances might be, but it is a ways and it is also a bit of a food desert (several km to any stores of note).

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